Sitting in office....can it derail exercise...read on...

OK, I once read that even if you exercise every day and watch what you eat, having a sedentary job like sitting at a desk in an office for 6 hours a day can derail your efforts and still keep you unhealthy. This is not counting bathroom breaks and going upstairs to the other departments and lunch break.

I don't buy it, but what are your thoughts? It's been on my mind lately.

Wish you had shared the article, maybe with it I could convince my boss to put some exercise equipment in my cube :-)

I've thought the same as I sit on my azz 8 hours a day as well! That being said I try to get up and walk around often and go for walks on my two coffee breaks as well as my lunch break.

Edit: I find I don't feel as sluggish and don't hit that mid-afternoon wall when I go for my walk breaks.

I'm the same, I'm also calmer and less stressed the more walk breaks I can take.

As I understand it, the theory is more that you can't make up for a day's worth of inactivity purely with 30 minutes of heavy activity in the evening.

It would be better if you were able to achieve regular periods of light to moderate activity throughout the day. Which is why I, for example, take a walking break every hour during which I walk round the office and then up and down 5 flights of stairs.

It's not intense activity, but it is regular activity.

But why would this be, does anyone have a logical explanation?
If timing of calorie intake doesn't matter, then why would timing of calorie expenditure matter? Wouldn't it be as long as you are expending X amount of calories per day?

From a weight loss perspective it won't matter a damn. If your aim is simply weight loss, then you're good. If your aim is 200 pushups or bench pressing a certain amount, or running a mile in 4 minutes... you're good.

But fitness and health (which are a horribly vague terms) encompass a variety of other things. It's hard to measure them by a single metric.

While the regular moderate activity doesn't burn a huge number of calories it does mean you are "active" (another horribly vague term) for a far greater amount of time than the usually 30-60 minutes of intense exercise that people do. And the theory seems to be gaining ground that being active matters and that sitting for prolonged periods... Like say 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the afternoon has negative impacts on your health.

You can't pick just one factor and blame all your bad health on it.

I'm going to assume "your" is the collective "you" and not me.

Well I exercise almost every day, and I "lift heavy" three times a week for now. I put in quotes because I'm still newish and don't want anyone to be thinking I'm some heavy lifting expert (yet!). I watch what I eat, I log, I've been a little more serious about the food lately. I'm not sitting on a couch all day expecting osmosis to get my body in shape.

I was just wondering becasue I read it somewhere and it seemed like one of those articles geared to make people who are actually working to get in shape feel like they are wasting their time.

I hate articles like that. Well, I'm not saying they are purposely trying to talk us out of exercising but it sure doesn't feel like they are promoting us to keep it up.

Regardless, I'm doing my part and soon will be able to post pics.

What is a lifting heavy expert?

And here it comes....

It's someone who has been lifing heavy for more than a few months, someone who has a great idea of what they want in thier body goals, someone who has more experience than I, someone who has gone through different phases of loading and deloading, and changing up of reps vs weight, etc, ad nauseam. And no, there are no PhD's in lifting.

I said that because if you lift heavy for you. You're lifting heavy. I lift heavy too my friend lift way heavier than me. That does not change the fact I lift heavy. I think people who get to there goals in lifting can say that they know what there doing in the gym. Also I wanted to know what a lifting expert is because by your definition I am one. I thing when I get to my goals then I can say I am a lifting expert.

I went from waiting tables in college to my present desk job, and gained over 100 pounds-most within the first year. Staring at a computer screen can lull you into a constant state of half asleep, making you tired even though you've been sitting down all day. I am kicking myself for not using our on site gym when I first started. There's also the culture of the people around you. Most on my team have no interest in eating healthier and getting more exercise. There is always junk food and team lunches planned (lunches taking the place of my workout time). It is frustrating, but still not a total derailment.

...even if you exercise every day and watch what you eat, having a sedentary job like sitting at a desk in an office for 6 hours a day can derail your efforts and still keep you unhealthy.

I don't agree with the idea that it doesn't matter if you exercise. I do agree that being sedentary isn't good for your health.

I'm not sure is the same the study that you read about :

http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2014/02/18/bjsports-2013-093014.abstract

The results state that: Associations were independent of leisure-time physical activity.

I read this as, they studied the affects of sitting all day long and watching TV. Exercise wasn't part of the study.

Also, the conclusion states that more studies are needed. In other words, don't lose sleep over having a desk job. Get your exercise in, go to work and enjoy life. :flowerforyou:

I haven't had a desk job in years, but whenever I did, I gained weight, despite having some sort of exercise routine. When you think about it, you have to set your TDEE to sedentary and add exercise if you sit all day; but if you are lightly active with a job where you're up and down or on your feet, your TDEE is higher already, and then adding exercise increases the burn, However, most people who sit all day don't eat less than folks who work on their feet; in fact they are subject to the same temptations -- office food, lunches, etc. I'm married to a guy who sits all day -- huge toll on his body. Then, he actually gets disinclined to go to the gym because sitting becomes a habit, no one else is doing it, everyone eats lunch at their desks rather than takes a walk (or eats lunch at a restaurant, more calories). It's like a vicious cycle.

I think it is just another excuse.